Imagine this: Jack owes Jill $20 and pays Jill $20. Jill owes Jack $5 and pays Jack $5.

Now, why didn’t Jack just pay Jill $15?

That’s the same question the city of Bay Minette and North Baldwin Utilities are asking each other.

Every year, NBU pays $240,000 to Bay Minette in order to operate their facilities. Also, since the early 1980’s, 7.5 mill of the 12 mill ad valorem property tax in Bay Minette goes to NBU to operate the south side of the city’s water and sewage.

Currently, the two are working out a deal to cut out all the extra bureaucratic bills floating around.

“We’re just trying to clean up some paperwork,” said Jason Padgett, general manager of NBU. “It won’t financially hurt us or the city in any way.”

According to Padgett, the revenue received from the property tax has exceeded the $240,000 the last couple years.

“It’s a way to let the city keep the funds and not pay us,” he said.

And it’s a way for NBU not to pay the city since they were already going to collect that money from the city, anyway.

Because the property tax was added by referendum, it must be adjusted the same way.

According to Mayor Sonny Dobbins, the city hopes to hold the referendum sometime around October of this year, but the changes wonít take place until October 2008.

“The city wants this to happen,” Dobbins said.

NBU supplies all water to Bay Minette, White House Fork, Stockton, Tensaw and about 50,000 gallons daily to Spanish Fort.

The Spanish Fort Water System serves 3,000 subscribers. The system is connected with NBU on U.S. 31, receives Mobile water through a Causeway connection and has four active wells.

The White House Fork system encompasses an area from Bay Minette city limits east to Buzbee’s Fish Camp, Cliffís Landing Road south to Stapleton.

For more information, contact NBU by phone at (251) 580-1626 or by email at jpadgett@ci.bay-minette.al.us.